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Essay on health literacy issues
Essay on health literacy issues
Theories on health literacy
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Health literacy is defined as "The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions" (Michael K. Paasche-Orlow, 2010), the word Health literacy first appeared in 1974 in a paper which calls for “education standards for all grade school levels in USA” (Carolyn Speros, 2004) . Some recent works suggest that there is a relation between literacy, low health and premature deaths (Christina Zarcadoolas et al, 2005).
Awareness on Health literacy
The concept of health literacy was first originated in early years and it was recognised as an autonomous research field in 1990s (Andrew pleasant and Shyama Kuruvilla, 2008). The awareness on the health and the literacy is frequently raising, and several governments are implementing various national programmes to raise literacy levels and health standards. The government and some organisations are implementing health awareness programmes in the community, and they promote them through media social marketing through printed materials. However, people who can read pamphlets and printed text can only know the information in it. So accessibility to health information is a key factor among every individual in community, which can be achieved by health literacy (Heather and Lisa Langille, 2006).
There are so many countries having low literacy rates. Heather and Lisa Langille (2006) stated that literacy is the essential basic for health literacy and individual’s life reflects the relationship with health and literacy. WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health recognised that, literacy as having a key role in deciding health inequalities in both developed and undeveloped count...
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...h literacies: public health and clinical approaches to health literacy', Health Promotion International, 23 (2), pp. 152-159.
4. Heather, E. and Lisa, L. (2006) 'Building Knowledge in Literacy and Health', Canadian Journal of Public Health, 97, p. s31.
5. Nutbeam, D. (2008) 'The evolving concept of health literacy', social science and medicine, 67 (12), pp. 2072-2078
6. Speros, C. (2004) 'Health literacy: concept analysis', Journal of Advanced Nursing, 50 (6), pp. 633–640.
7. Egbert, N. and Nanna, KM. (2009) 'Health literacy: challenges and strategies', Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 14 (3).
8. Michael K. Paasche-Orlow, et al. (2005) 'The Prevalence of Limited Health Literacy', Journal of General Internal Medicine, 20 (2), pp. 175-184.
9. Tanya, L. and Al-Assaf (2006) 'Health Literacy: Impact on older adults', American Academy of Medical Administrators.
"Teaching Health Education in School." HealthyChildren.org. Healthy Children, 11 May 2013. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
Proctor, B. D., and Dalaker, J. Poverty in the United States: 2001. Washington, DC: Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce, 2002. http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/p60-219.pdf. Quigley, A. Rethinking Literacy Education: The Critical Need for Practice Based Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997.
Conaty-Buck, S. (2009). Unblocking barriers: Clearing the channel to improve communication between practitioners and patients with low health literacy. (Order No. 3364864, University of Virginia). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 121. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/305011452?accountid=14694. (305011452).
What is Literacy? “Literacy is the quality or state of being literate” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). The traditional element of literacy can be coached however in today’s society that is not the case because within this millennium the digital age has taken over. Literacy starts from an early age so therefore, having the ability to be literate has a strong impact on ones future, the traditional forms of literacy are also being erased and replaced with digital forms, literacy is something that can be improved, being literate is very important because in today’s society lacking literacy has major consequences. And also a person of literacy has certain skills that are never forgotten. Literacy is a fundamental that has a huge difference in one’s life and without it life will be even more complicated.
Camangian, Patrick. "Adolescent Literacy Policy; Making People Our Policy: Grounding Literacy in Lives." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy (2011): 458-460.
However, health literacy is more than just read and write; it is the ability to understand and able to use health information to make choices about their health (Benyon, 2014). Low health literacy can have detrimental effect on the health of the client because it may cause misunderstand of the medical label or health information. According to McMurray & Clendon (2015), health literacy divided into three different levels which are functional, interactive/communicative and critical health literacy. As for functional levels, it is the most general and fundamental level for the general public because individuals need to receive and understand the information of health such as risk of health decision, consent forms, health instruction or medicine labels. (McMurray & Clendo , 2015) Turning to the next level, interactive/communicative health literacy, mainly involved personal skills to spread health knowledge to the community, and also , people are able to influence social norm and help others individuals to develop their personal health capacity. Because of this, understanding of how organization work and resounding communication skill which can help to support others and knowing how to get different health services other individuals need (McMurray & Clendo , 2015). The third level is critical health literacy, mainly divided to
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). (2014). About health literacy. Retrieved from website: http://www.hrsa.gov/publichealth/healthliteracy/healthlitabout.html
Merging multi-literacies in Health and Physical Education could allow students to talk about topics of the genre more successfully and have knowledge of Health and Physical Education terms and language in daily life. According to Nutbeam (2000) interactive health literacy is a term which outlines the individual inspiration to maintain personal health. By teaching skills in the primary years to communicate and cope with health issues and physical activity will assist students in the schools of South Australia to know their personal requirements.
Kutner, M., Greenberg,E.,and Baer, J. (2005). A First Look at the Literacy of America’s Adults in
In fact, many health care providers are not often cognizant of inadequate literacy among patients; hence, they overestimate patients’ knowledge of medical conditions, ways of disease prevention and existing therapeutic options. Therefore, appropriate health educational advice had not been made in medical encounters (Evangelista et al., 2010; Shaw, Huebner, Armin, Orzech, & Vivian, 2009). According to the literature, little health literacy affects the lack of regular participation in screening programs (Davis et al., 2001) and deprivation of receiving care efficiently among patients (M. V. Williams, Parker, Baker, & et al., 1995). Moreover, people with inadequate health literacy use preventive health services lower than health literate individuals (Scott, Gazmararian, Williams, & Baker,
Literacy education must be conceptualized as more than reading and writing (Auerbach et al. 1996). According to Fingeret (1992), "our understanding of literacy has changed from [a] focus on individual skills, separated from meaningful content .
This obstacles include; language barriers, Cultural stigma associated with seeking professional help and concerns about confidentiality,lack of knowledge about available services, Limited or no insurance coverage or other means of paying for services,reliance on nonprofessional sources of support, especially family members and friends,use of alternative sources of help such as herbalists and spiritual leaders There are many steps to be taken in oder to ensure that as many individuals from the marginalized communities as possible are enrolled in this health provision initiative as possible. This steps are; Working with sponsors of local health care events ( health fairs, public workshops, or free screenings) to spread the word about improving health literacy and also tho target a large number of individuals. Working with your local public health officer and city officials to ensure that important public health and safety information is communicated in plain language for better
This is a shorter and more direct route to increasing health-specific knowledge and skills through information dissemination, health promotion in the health
HEALTH LITERACY FOR CHILDREN Health literacy is the understanding health information and been able to apply it. In order for health literacy to be effective it is believed that it should start early in life. As a community nurse at the Yvonne Learning Center, in a low-income urban area it is important to develop a Health Literacy Program for the children. This program will be developed in order to promote self-learning and ability to be self-sufficient in children that will be carried later on in life to adulthood. Why is health literacy essential?
Development and Performance Measurements of Educational Programs to Improve Consumer Health Information Literacy. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 53(2), 140-154.